- 14 - disallowed expenses petitioner claimed for supplements, which included buffalo meat consumed daily, shake drinks of vitamins for energy and body enhancing effects, and various skin or body applications to enhance petitioner's physical appearance as a competitive bodybuilder. Under section 262, a taxpayer is not allowed deductions for personal, living, or family expenses. Petitioner was engaged in a trade or business activity, and the expenses he incurred that were ordinary and necessary to that activity are deductible under section 162. The peculiarity of petitioner's business activity is that it included expenses for things that are generally considered personal. As the Court noted in Hynes v. Commissioner, 74 T.C. 1266, 1289 (1980), resolution of such issues requires a reconciliation of sections 262 and 162. In Commissioner v. Heininger, 320 U.S. 467 (1943), the Court held that whether expenses are ordinary and necessary business expenses and, therefore, deductible is a question of fact, and the taxpayer has the burden of demonstrating that the purpose of an expenditure is primarily business rather than personal, and that the business in which the taxpayer is engaged benefited or was intended to be benefited by the expenditure. In numerous cases, the courts have decided that, where a business wardrobe was a necessary condition for employment, costs for the wardrobe are generally not deductible under section 262 under the generalPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011